The Amity Park Variety Hour
by la periodista
Summary: Sam is tired of being one of the guys. When a local variety show holds open auditions, she decides to go for it, despite the teasing. But what will happen if she makes the show? And how will things change between her and Danny... Chapter two posted!
1. A Huge Opportunity

**Hello, and welcome to my newest story! I recently came up with the idea and wanted to see how it would play out, so here's the result!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the _Danny Phantom_ series.**

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Samantha Manson tapped her foot in time with the piano notes. When the moment came, she belted out the opening line of the song. 

"Perfect!" the piano teacher, also her accompanist, praised her. "You are coming along beautifully, Sam."

"Thank you, Mr. Michaels," she answered, grinning and blushing slightly.

Sam practiced the song until she got it just right, and then the lesson ended. She had been taking voice lessons for years. As the heiress to the person who invented twirling cellophane around toothpicks, she was often spoiled as a child, much to her chagrin. However, she did enjoy the voice lessons.

But most people who met her wouldn't believe that, not even her two best friends, Danny Fenton and Tucker Foley. She could just picture them doubling over in laughter if she admitted it, which is why she never bothered to tell them. At first, on the days of her lessons, she always had an excuse for not meeting up with them, such as being dragged to the mall by her mom, or having to care for her grandmother. But now Danny and Tucker were adjusted to just not seeing her at certain times during the week, with the belief that she was actually spending quality time with her parents.

Sam practiced her scales in private before going upstairs to her room to start on her homework. She had to find two stories in the Amity Park Gazette, the local newspaper, and summarize them for her current events presentation the next day in her Government class. As she glazed over the first few pages of the main section, a little blurb caught her eye.

_That's it!_ she thought. _That's how I'll catch Danny's attention, and show him that I'm not just the Goth girl anymore! I'll let him see my girly side, and then maybe he will finally see me as a young woman, and not just one of the guys!_

Normally Sam didn't particularly care about what others thought of her. But when it came to Danny, that all changed, for a very important reason- she had a crush on him.

But Danny- or The Clueless One, as she and Tucker often called him- had no idea. He only saw Sam as a friend, and was too busy pursuing other girls to pay particular attention to her beyond a purely platonic level.

Sam finished her homework before clipping the little paragraph that had grabbed her attention, reading it over and over again. She went back downstairs, lifting the lid of the piano bench and removing several pages of sheet music. She sorted through them, separating them by the songs she felt best emphasized her strengths versus her weaknesses. Finally settling on three potential songs, she took the music for them upstairs, putting the rest away. Once back in her room, she went to her huge walk-in closet to pick out an outfit to wear for the audition.

Yes, that's right, an audition. The information she found happened to be an ad for a weekly show of local origination called _The Amity Park Variety Hour. _The show had been running for several years, but up until recently had only allowed proven talent to appear. But there was an open casting call set for that weekend, and although Sam normally didn't like to show off, she resolved to do something for herself for once, to prove to everyone that she could sing. Even if she didn't make the show, at least she could say she tried.

Because of the songs she'd picked out, Sam decided to go for a simple black dress. It was a sleeveless wrap design that hit just below her knees, with small ruffles along the leg hem and neckline. It was about the most girly thing she'd ever owned, aside from the dresses and skirts her parents made her wear as part of being an heiress. If it was left up to her, she would wear a black tank, a plaid miniskirt, and black combat boots to everything, which all went back to generally not caring about other people's impressions of her.

Sam put the dress on a hook glued to the inside of the closet door, then left the closet and her room to go back downstairs and start her dinner. Her parents were on a business trip and wouldn't be back until the next day. After she finished eating, she spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening watching TV, talking to Danny and Tucker, and straightening up her room.

Sam finally settled into bed around 11:00, quickly falling asleep. She was flooded with dreams of becoming a singing star, only to have Danny beg her not to leave town for a tour, because he wanted to spend every waking moment with her. Little did she know...

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"Hey, Sam!" Danny called to her the next morning from across the front lawn of Casper High. She strolled over to meet up with him and Tucker, a smile on her face. 

"What are you, hiding a secret or something?" Tucker asked, noticing her expression.

For answer, Sam just handed him the newspaper clipping.

"So what's this for?" Danny asked, reading it over Tucker's shoulder.

"It's to give you guys a heads-up on my plans for tomorrow."

Danny and Tucker looked at each other and burst out laughing, just as she had expected. The last time they'd laughed like that at her expense was when they found out she'd entered a beauty pageant. And what happened? Danny, the judge, ended up naming her the winner. But this fact seemed to slip their minds, as they attempted to talk, only to point at her and laugh harder.

"You're going to audition for a TV show?" Tucker finally stammered, clutching his side, which ached from his laughter.

"Uh, yeah."

"You've got to be kidding," Danny murmured through his chuckles.

"Yeah, whatever, Mr. I-laughed-at-my-best-friend-for-entering-a-pageant-then-picked-her-as-the-winner," Sam retorted.

"Yeah, but that was different."

"How?"

"It just was, okay?" Danny insisted, as he and Tucker finally regained their composure.

"Look, you two. You can laugh all you want to, but I'm going to do this. And I'm going to make it. You'll see."

As Tucker and Danny started laughing again, Sam walked off in a huff. _I'll show them,_ she thought.

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**Please review! A big thank you!**


	2. The Auditions, First Round

**Hello, all! I'm so sorry I didn't update this sooner, but for a time I was very sure that I was going to delete it. But upon re-reading the first chapter and the reviews, I've chosen to continue it. Thank you to my reviewers thus far- passing4insane; Girl in Blue; kristi; teddygeiger'sinsanecrazyluver; Half-elf; and Purple Mystic.**

**Note: Song selection for this story is not necessarily based on personal taste, but on songs that I think suit the characters. And since I am not supposed to use song lyrics in the story, I will post the song titles and artists in my profile under the story title. I have also posted a link to a lyrics search engine, so that you make look them up, should you choose to do so.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the _Danny Phantom_ TV series, in whole or in part. Nor do I own any work by Britney Spears or Alicia Keys.**

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Sam arrived at the studio thirty minutes prior to her audition, according to the over-the-phone instructions she'd received upon registering. She was wearing her wrap dress, had her hair falling about her in spiral curls, and also had on subtle make-up. She brought nothing more than a small purse and a copy of the sheet music for the song she'd chosen. 

After finishing her homework the day before, she'd called an emergency practice session with her piano/voice coach. Once that was done, she spent the remainder of the evening practicing the song she'd chosen. She had managed to contain her nerves, but as she went through the back entrance to the studio, they started to get to her.

Sam stopped and took several deep breaths, calming herself down before making her way to a large meeting room. She looked around, making observations of the other potential contestants. Some of them looked nervous, while others looked entirely too confident. One person in particular stood out to her.

Paulina.

Paulina was the most popular girl in school. She was pretty, but extremely shallow. But the worst part was that, although he insisted he'd gotten over her, Danny still had a crush on her. Paulina symbolized everything Sam wasn't-preppy, perky, pretty, and popular. As well as ditzy, superficial, snobby, manipulative, and even downright rude.

Sam was pretty in her own right, although it was something that never seemed to occur to her. Much of that could be attributed to her refusal to get by on looks alone. When she didn't feel plain, she fretted that she put too much emphasis on her natural beauty.

Sam turned away, hoping that Paulina (or the "Shallow Little Witch," as Sam preferred) hadn't spotted her. But it was too late.

"Well, well, well, what's the Goth Girl doing here?" Paulina drawled, faking a smile. "Working minimum wage as a messenger for the TV station or something?"

"For your information, Paulina, I'm here to audition," Sam hissed, somehow maintaining her self-control as she showed the other young woman her sheet music as proof.

"Oh, well, you'd better hope you get to go before me, because once they're done seeing me, they'll probably stop the auditions."

"Why, are you that horrible?" Sam couldn't resist.

"No, because I'm so good, I can carry the whole show on my own. Duh," Paulina answered matter-of-factly.

"We'll see about that," Sam murmured under her breath.

At that moment, two of the show's producers came in and separated everyone into groups, based on which talent they would perform. Of course Paulina was grouped together with Sam, as both were going to sing.

The two young women went to one of the stages with the other eighteen singers. As each person entered, they drew a number to determine the order in which they would audition. Sam would go up right after Paulina, much to her relief somehow. Provided, of course, that the latter was really as bad as she thought she was good.

The first nine singers went before Paulina had her turn. She put a CD into the boom box and stood on the marker, greeting the judges with a broad grin.

"Hello, my name is Paulina, and I go to Casper High. I'm here to sing 'You Drive Me Crazy' by Britney Spears!"

"It figures..." Sam muttered, rolling her eyes.

As soon as Paulina completed the first line, snickers could be heard all around. She either ignored it or didn't notice as she began dancing and gyrating around the stage in her skimpy red tube top and denim mini skirt.

"Wow, she makes Britney Spears sound good," a fellow singer whispered to Sam, and they shared a giggle.

"So what did you think?" Paulina asked, jumping up-and-down excitedly, having been asked to stop singing after she got through the chorus. As she bounced around, she succeeded in bouncing one side of her chest right out of her top. "Ooh, I bet that's bonus points," she said, turning to give Sam a smug look as she fixed her "wardrobe malfunction."

"Well, uh... we'll put up the list for callbacks later," one of the judges spoke up.

Paulina turned to leave, but stopped when another judge added, "But don't bother looking for your name! That was the worst singing I've ever heard!"

Part of Sam felt sorry for Paulina, but the rest of her caused her to bite her lip to keep from laughing as the young woman hurried out.

"Next, please," one of the judges called.

Sam stood on the mark to introduce herself. "Good evening. My name is Sam, and I am a high school senior. I'll be performing 'Fallin'' by Alicia Keys."

Sam took her place at the piano, accompanying herself as she sang. Much to her surprise, the judges didn't ask her to stop, letting her complete the song. Had she not been so caught up in her audition, she would've noticed all the people staring at her, mouths agape.

Sam finished the song, arose from the piano bench, and politely bowed with thanks as applause arose throughout the auditorium.

The judges were beaming as she took her mark, awaiting feedback on her audition.

"I'm speechless," one judge said, and two others nodded in agreement.

"That was an absolutely amazing rendition of that song. It is so hard to both play and sing the right keys, and you nailed both. Unbelievable job," complimented a fourth.

"Ladies and gentlemen," spoke up the fifth judge, "I believe we've just found Amity Park's newest singing sensation."

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**Please review! Thank you so much!**


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